


Nothing To See

by opalmatrix



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Angst, Gen, Non-Graphic Violence, Psychic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-06
Updated: 2010-03-06
Packaged: 2017-10-07 18:50:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/68109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/pseuds/opalmatrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's hard to blunt the sharpest of senses for long, but sometimes a moment is all that it takes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing To See

**Author's Note:**

> Written for **[saiyuki_time](http://community.livejournal.com/saiyuki_time/)** challenge #16, the Sixth Sense. Time allowed 30 minutes; actual time: about that, but I ended up tinkering with it a little bit afterward for maybe 5 more minutes, because I originally wrote it in dribs and drabs. (Written in July 2008)

The night was alive with the tiny, mindlessly content sounds of insects, the faint clatter and hum of the town all around them, and to Sanzo's third eye, the glow and leap of Goku's inhuman _chi_, like a friendly campfire beside him.

"I think I'd be OK," said the monkey, cheerfully, and turned away from Sanzo, in pursuit of a snack yet again.

For a second, everything went quiet and meaningless, a grey humming nothingness, and then, as the sounds returned, Goku froze, tensed, and fell, blood spurting black in the night's dimness from dozens of wounds, his _chi_ flickering, flaring, fading.

And Sanzo had heard, seen, sensed _nothing_

His gun was in his hand as he spun around, crouching over Goku's raggedly breathing body. _What the fuck? What just -? Where are  
you?_

Nothing.

It had never happened before. What had closed the eye the gods had opened?

And then, seeping into his consciousness, like hearing the smell of smoke, like tasting the sound of iron dropped on stone, a single impression, lasting less than a heartbeat: tall, clad in the robes of a Sanzo priest, dark hair and dark eyes and darkly humorous smirk, 10 years ago and more, a fathomless hunger, the remorseless gravity of the void -

_Ukoku Sanzo Houshi!_

Sanzo fired his gun, but the target wasn't there. He found he was holding Goku, the boy's _chi_ faltering and fleeting, but Sanzo's mind was elsewhere, racing through the streets of the town, seeking, questing, hunting with all the power that hate could give. He was hardly aware of Hakkai's cool green flare and Gojyo's diffuse warm glow when they arrived, barely felt Hakkai's fierce slap on his cheek, scarcely noticed the bloody burden lifted from his arms. "I will kill him," he said, aloud, staggering to his feet, and was gone before he could stop to think what Goku's chances really were.

When he came to himself, in the cold rain on a deserted street, he had no idea how much time had passed. He only knew that he had lost his quarry. And that it was no use praying. The gods never gave gifts when asked. If you were lucky, they gave you a chance to use what you already had, and somehow, he had just wasted his.

 


End file.
